The known toll of the COVID-19 pandemic in Minnesota is approaching 300,000 infections and 3,400 deaths, but new estimates suggest even broader spread of the fast-moving, infectious disease.
Roughly 15% of Minnesotans — about 846,000 people — have likely been infected with the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 when including those who had no symptoms or weren't tested, said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.
After more than eight months of the pandemic, people might be surprised that only a minority of the country has suffered COVID-19, but that underscores the need for continued precautions heading into the holiday season, Osterholm said Wednesday.
"We're in the bottom of the third, top of the fourth inning [of the pandemic]," he said. "Without vaccine, this virus is going to keep taking more lives and causing more illness."
Minnesota has reached 289,303 infections and 3,375 deaths since the pandemic's start, including 6,399 infections and a record-tying 72 deaths reported Wednesday.
The latest White House Coronavirus Task Force report card listed Minnesota with the fourth-highest rate of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S., behind the Dakotas and Wyoming, and classified 81 of 87 counties as "red zones" due to their infection rates.
While some statistical indicators have improved in the last five days, leaders with the Minnesota Department of Health said it is premature to conclude that the latest wave of COVID-19 has peaked.
"We have seen our case numbers fluctuating from day to day so we would not consider that we have any type of a reliable trend," said Jan Malcolm, state health commissioner.